We’re back at the Rosewood Hong Kong for Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2024. And we’ll forgive your slight sense of deja vu. That’s because Rosewood just hosted Asia’s 50 Best Bars for the 2nd consecutive year.

The Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2024 awards was the usual mix of ups and downs, emotional and numerical. The gathered audience, which included representatives of 97 of the region’s bars, witnessed a changing of the guard at the top of the list, and a dramatic ascent from a just-opened bar that reached its summit.

Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2024: A Barometer For The Regional Bar Industry

Asia’s 50 Best Bars list reflects the ongoing trends in the industry – a focus on sustainability, locally-sourced ingredients – including a renewed interest in traditional spirits – on low- and no-alcoholic beverages, cocktails with umami and savory flavors, and drink that employ innovative techniques that push the boundaries of what we consider a cocktail.

Notable shifts include a stronger showing from emerging markets and surprise destinations, like Osaka and Taichung, signaling the growing sophistication and diversity of the region’s bar scene. Meanwhile, established hubs like Hong Kong and Singapore continue to dominate, though not without facing stiff competition from their regional counterparts, particularly Japan and South Korea.

The 51-100 List At Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2024

As we loudly, proudly proclaimed on the 9th July, three cocktail bars in Vietnam were recognized in the Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2024 51-100 list. 

This year, at Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2024, STIR – Modern Classic Cocktail was ranked No.58, rising 24 places from last year. Elsewhere, Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2024 51-100 list recognized two Vietnamese debutants: Drinking & Healing at No.99, and The Hudson Rooms and its Track 61 speakeasy, at Capella Hanoi, at No.81. And The Hudson Rooms could also lay claim to being the first hotel bar in Vietnam to feature on the Asia’s 50 Best Bars list. 

Two notable omissions were Enigma and Hybrid. Both went through major house moves in the past year, Enigma evolving into Enigma Mansion and Hybrid Saigon sticking to the same name but sliding into the space above Tipsy Department – the latest project from its founder Lam Duong. But both will be hoping to re-enter Asia’s 50 Best Bars list next year, assuming the new landlords’ visions align, along with a host of other cocktail bars in Vietnam, hungry for recognition. 

And talk here, as it has been since the start of the awards in 2016 (this year was its 9th edition), was whether a bar in Vietnam would be recognized in Asia’s 50 Best Bars 1-50 for the first time. 

The Pre-announced Special Awards For Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2024

Besides that, in the pre-announced special awards, Virtù in Tokyo, which claimed the No.20 spot last year and the Disaronno Highest New Entry Award along with it, has been given the Michter’s Art of Hospitality Award, showing Beverage Director Keith Motsi, formerly of Charles H, in Seoul, has a Midas touch. At Charles H, Keith was named Bartenders’ Bartender at Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2022, only two years after it opened, as the bar, at Seoul’s Four Seasons, ascended to No.7 the same year. 

This year, in the other pre-award, Dohyung ‘Demie’ Kim, co-founder of Zest in Seoul, received the same accolade. Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2024 declared him the winner of the Altos Bartenders’ Bartender Award 2024.

That left the Bareksten Best Bar Design Award for Asia (handed out for the first time), the Roku Industry Icon, the Ketel One Sustainable Bar, the Disaronno Highest New Entry, the London Essence Best New Opening, the Nikka Highest Climber, the Siete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu, the Campari One To Watch, and the Rémy Martin Legend of the List, and the Destination Award Winners, for the best in class for each country, as well as the bars from No.50 to No.1, to be announced on the night.

Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2024 Voting Process

The selection process for Asia’s 50 Best Bars relies on a diverse and anonymous panel of 265 regional experts. This panel comprises three key groups: 25% are drinks writers and educators, another 25% are well-traveled cocktail connoisseurs, and the remaining 50% are industry professionals, including bartenders and bar owners.

According to the 50 Best team, there’s no rigid set of criteria or requirement for bars to stock specific products. Instead, inclusion on the list is based on a more holistic assessment. Each of the 265 experts votes based on their personal interpretation of what constitutes an exceptional bar worthy of Asia’s 50 Best Bars accolade. This approach allows for a diverse range of establishments to be considered, reflecting the varied tastes and experiences of the voting panel.

A Quick Look Back To Last Year: Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2023 

Last year, Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2023 offered a host of surprises. But it didn’t always need a change of rankings to confound everyone, because few would have predicted Coa, in Hong Kong, would hold onto No.1 for the 3rd year in a row.

Back then, the Special Awards kicked off with The Campari One To Watch, uniquely an award chosen by the 50 Best team, which went to Singapore’s Nighthawk.

In the destination category, Smoke & Bitters claimed the title of Sri Lanka’s best bar. Hope & Sesame took the honor for Mainland China. Malaysia’s top spot went to Bar Trigona at No. 38, while The Curator, at No. 34, was named the Philippines’ best bar.

Mahaniyom Cocktail Bar, ranked No. 22, won The London Essence Best New Bar Award. India’s Best Bar was Sidecar at No. 18, and Taiwan’s top spot went to Indulge at No. 11.

Analogue Initiative climbed to No. 15 and received the Sustainability Award. Japan’s Virtù earned the Disaronno Highest New Entry title. The Cocktail Club in Jakarta, placed at No. 19, and won the Siete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu Award.

Bar Benfiddich’s Hiroyasu Kayama received the Roku Industry Icon Award, with the bar also ranking No. 4 and being named Japan’s best bar 2023. Korea’s Zest made an impressive 43-place leap to No. 5, earning The Nikka Highest Climber award and the title of Korea’s best bar. And Sago House, recipient of the pre-announced Michter’s Art Of Hospitality Award, secured the No. 10 spot.

And the top three spots were claimed by bars from different countries. Bangkok’s BKK Social Club took No. 3, while Singapore’s Jigger & Pony, the Legend of the List, held onto No. 2. With the top two unchanged from the previous year, leaving Hong Kong’s Coa to once again claim the No. 1 position.

Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2024 Announced: The Haflington Becomes Vietnam’s First Bar In The 1-50 List

This year, ending the speculation about whether a bar in Vietnam would break into the top 50, The Haflington in Hanoi was named at No.47, which also granted the bar its Destination Award, for the Best Bar In Vietnam.

The Haflington is a cocktail bar that, since it opened in 2021, has reenacted a night at the Natural History Museum for its guests. There are rows of mysterious glass jars and a whisky tasting counter. Next to that is a gentleman’s club-style smoking lounge. And upstairs again is an attic with exposed wooden beams and a bar with display cases full of fossils and hardback books. But, most dramatically of all, there’s a 3-meter-long dinosaur skeleton suspended above the bar. Welcome to the Asia’s 50 Best Bars list, The Haflington.

The Special Awards At Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2024

In the list of Special Awards at Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2024, the first Special Award, The Campari One To Watch 2024, selected from the 51-100 list, went to Bangkok, and the Thai capital’s Dry Wave Cocktail Studio, which squeezed into the list at No.98.

The second Special Award, The Rémy Martin Legend of the List 2024, is given to a bar that has consistently ranked in the top 50 – and which can only be claimed once by any bar. This year it went to a bar that’s been on every Asia’s 50 Best Bar list since 2017, Atlas in Singapore. 

The bar also took home the inaugural Bareksten Best Bar Design Award, edging out Reka, Kuala Lumpur, and Reply, Taipei, in the shortlist of three. And Bareksten’s hirsuite founder Stig Bareksten was on stage to hand this, the second award of the night, to Atlas. 

After that, The Ketel One Sustainable Bar 2024 Award, handed out by Ketel One’s Denis Tamse, went to Christina Rasmussen and Sasha Wijidessa’s Fura, Singapore. Following that, The Siete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu 2024 was shortlisted to three bars: Nest By Pun, Taipei, Jigger & Pony, Singapore, and Toma Brasserie, Jakarta, before Nest By Pun’s ‘Tales By Nest’ menu took the award.

After that, The London Essence Best New Opening 2024, given out by Nutmeg & Clove’s Colin Chia, went to Jay Khan and Ajit Gurung’s Savory Project. Then, as the Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2024 awards show headed towards the top 10, the Michter’s Art Of Hospitality Award was, as pre-announced, given to Virtù, which also ranked at No. 11. 

The Nikka Highest Climber 2024, rising 42 places from its 2022 debut, and the winner of the Best Bar In Malaysia, was Kuala Lumpur’s Penrose, at No.8. And as the 50 Best Bar Awards 2024 entered the final straight, before the announcement of the top 5, The Roku Industry Icon Award 2024 went to Yangdup Lama, the industry leader behind bars like Sidecar, New Delhi.

Throughout Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2024 awards were scattered the destination awards, for the best bar in each country. Along with The Haflington becoming the Best Bar In Vietnam 2024, and the first to ever enter the top 50, ZLB23 in Bengalaru was chosen as the Best Bar In India. Smoke & Bitters in Hiriketiya was again chosen as the Best Bar In Sri Lanka, and Barc, in Kathmandu, the Best Bar In Nepal 2024.

The Curator, in Manila, remained the Best Bar In The Philippines. And Vender, the vending machine-themed bar in Taichung, was named the best bar in Taiwan. The St. Regis Bar became the Best Bar In Macau, and Hope & Sesame was again the Best Bar In Mainland China. Jakarta’s Cocktail Club, also held on to the Best Bar In Indonesia accolade, and likewise, BKK Social returned to the stage to pick up the Best Bar In Thailand prize.

Hiroyasu Kayama’s Bar Benfiddich, in Tokyo, which dropped one place at No.5, was named Best Bar In Japan, Jigger & Pony became the Best Bar In Singapore again, and Zest, in Seoul, after its meteoric rise last year, when it climbed to No.5 became the Best Bar In South Korea, ranked at No.2 in the list.

And so, this culminated in the crowning moment of the ceremony, when Bar Leone was bestowed with the prestigious title of Best Bar in Hong Kong 2024 while ascending to the apex of the list. Bar Leone now reigns supreme over the other 99 contenders, claiming the coveted No.1 spot as its own.

The Full List Of Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2024

So, at the upper echelons of the list, Coa finally relinquished its crown at No.4, and Jigger & Pony, at No.3, its runner up spot. Remarkably, one year after opening, Lorenzo Antinori’s Bar Leone became both the Disaronno Highest New Entry 2024 and the No.1, edging out Zest in Seoul – the mortadella sandwiches and Negronis are that good. 

So, finally, here’s the full list of Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2024.

50. Pine & Co (Seoul)

49. Atlas (Singapore)

48. Le Chamber (Seoul)

47. The Haflington (Hanoi, Best Bar In Vietnam 2024)

46. Alice (Seoul)

45. Mostly Harmless (Hong Kong) 

44. The Public House (Taipei)

43. CMYK (Changsha)

42. Fura (Singapore, Ketel One Sustainable Bar Award)

41. Reka (Kuala Lumpur)

40. ZLB23 (Bengalaru, Best Bar In India 2024)

39. Barc (Kathmandu, Best Bar In Nepal 2024)

38. Employees Only (Singapore)

37. Bar Mood (Taipei)

36. Bar Trigona (Kuala Lumpur)

35. Analogue Initiative (Singapore)

34. The Bellwood (Tokyo)

33. The Curator (Manila, Best Bar In The Philippines)

32. Origin Bar (Singapore)

31. Native (Singapore)

30. Vender (Taichung, Best Bar In Taiwan)

29. Smoke & Bitters (Hiriketiya, Best Bar In Sri Lanka)

28. Craftroom (Osaka) 

27. Pantja (Jakarta)

26. Quinary (Hong Kong)

25. Offtrack (Singapore)

24. Penicillin (Hong Kong)

23. SG Club (Tokyo)

22. The St. Regis Bar (Macau, Best Bar In Macau)

21. Bar Us (Bangkok)

20. Bar Cham (Seoul)

19. Savory Project (Hong Kong)

18. Mahaniyom Cocktail Club (Bangkok)

17. Darkside (Hong Kong)

16. Nighthawk (Singapore)

15. Sago House (Singapore)

14. Hope & Sesame (Guangzhou, Best Bar In Mainland China)

13. Vesper (Bangkok)

12. Cocktail Club (Jakarta, Best Bar In Indonesia)

11. Virtù (Tokyo, Michter’s Art Of Hospitality Award)

10. The Aubrey (Hong Kong)

9. Argo (Hong Kong)

8. Penrose (Kuala Lumpur, Nikka Highest Climber, Best Bar In Malaysia)

7. BKK Social (Bangkok, Best Bar In Thailand)

6. Nutmeg & Clove (Singapore)

5. Bar Benfiddich (Tokyo, Best Bar In Japan)

4. Coa (Hong Kong)

3. Jigger & Pony (Singapore, Best Bar In Singapore)

2. Zest (Seoul, Best Bar In South Korea)

1. Bar Leone (Hong Kong, The Disaronno Highest New Entry 2024, Best Bar In Hong Kong)